In a world without wars
The children are not
Separated from homes
Escaping buried destinies
In shell-shocked rubbles
Clinging to rickety boats
With tattered hopes
To be washed ashore
Swept into the sand
As twisted deadwood
To be long forgotten
By the ailing world
Only to be lamented
In the gnawing pain
Of those who cared
But were powerless
To control the bloodlust
Of men sans conscience
A surge in my veins
Throbbing temples
Burning sensation
Of rising resentment
Helpless, I see
Men in power be
Reckless, remorseless
Stirring uprisings
Where anger is
Directed to fellows
Without folly, sans flaw
So, fingers do not point,
To merchants of war!
The labels we carry
Are they our identity
The truth of our souls
The blood in our veins
Nameplates, tattoos
Etched on foreheads
Stamped on destinies
Stapled to the warrants
By which they pursue, punish
Track down, put behind bars
Make us stand in a queue
Ask what did you do
To earn titles, so!
What do you say?
To those who hate
With power absolute,
Anyone whose name
Doesn’t sound or spell
Just like theirs!
One of the series that I enjoyed watching on Prime Video was The Path. Around the same time, I was enjoying reading Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. While the web series and the book are not connected, as a viewer and reader, I found a common theme. The inherent violent, rather competitive nature of man, the use of myths and stories to advance control over bands of people are timeless. Cognitive behaviors and social needs inherent in our genes are tools to further the misgivings and insecurities of humans leading to subjugation.
“…an imagined order is always in danger of collapse, because it depends upon myths, and myths vanish once people stop believing in them. In order to safeguard an imagined order, continuous and strenuous efforts are imperative. Some of these efforts take the shape of violence and coercion.”
Prof. Yuval Noah Harari
Placing both the series and the book side-by-side, I could articulate the problem I perceive in any organized religion, movement, or cult. It is the concept that nonconformists are beyond redemption and need to be brought into the fold to be cured, saved, and protected. This thought leads to hatred, subjugation, divisiveness, a holier-than-thou attitude and eventually a thrust towards conversion. The same holds true in the political world.
Religion or spirituality has to be a personal experience. Till a religion teaches that the people on the other side of the fence are sinners requiring the intervention of its followers to cleanse them, that religion is teaching hatred and it cannot be a world religion. Can we identify any world religion today … None … Each one says unless you join my tribe of followers you are doomed! This is my reason for keeping away from organized faith of any sort.
Now the question is, why do leaders and preachers demand sole allegiance or conversion to a faith, calling it “The Path” to world peace or Eden or whatever. The first reason is self-aggrandizement, and the second reason is funding and fame. Money and ego are the root of all religious hullabaloo and power struggles. Sadly, followers of organized religion—as parents, teachers, social influencers—are propagating this same theory of hatred towards nonconformists in the younger generation. In politics, we are refusing to listen to the other viewpoint—nationalism is being equated with patriotism, and supremacists demand undivided ownership of privilege.
In a world steering towards hatred, when our generation had hoped for a New World Order for a unified flag, for spirituality, and peace, for love for nature, and a flourishing environment, we swiftly slipped into a sinkhole. The only good news we heard in some time was that the hole in the Ozone layer was finally healing. When I was a child, the depleting ozone layer seemed like the biggest bogeyman. Look around you now; every other person is threatening another for holding a different political ideology, for practicing a different faith, for being of another color or race.
I do not know how politics can be cleaned up but maybe we can start with religion because we are born into the religion of our families and introduced into its rituals and customs within the first week of our life on earth! What if we find a personal, unorganized religion; one that doesn’t condition young minds from the start, to look at people different from them with suspicion. What if we started a new religion of love and peace, in our homes, in our family of three, four, or five, and allowed our children to flourish in empathy and compassion!
I wonder if it’s possible or is our destiny set in stone on the foundation of myths and coercion, for Harari says, “… despite the astonishing things that humans can do, we remain unsure of our goals and we seem to be as discontented as ever.”
Globally, the lure of power is something I can never understand. Men of ripe age wanting authority over a divided people, in a raging pandemic, faltering economy, and destroyed environment. There must be something about power and the privileges that makes one want to embrace the worst possible stress and constant criticism and scrutiny, every single moment of their remaining life. Is power an addiction or is it just a way of life? Why is it so difficult to hand over the baton to another, with grace, dignity, and sharing of experience?
The desire to control people and land has been an age-old one, as ancient as the stars that make us up. There is always this one person dominating the family, the tribe, the clan, defining religion, molding the laws, having the final say in disputes, and eventually leading the men to war and conquest. All good till it lasts, till it serves the people but the desire to cling on to power only grows. Unsatiated, it invests on itself the Divine right. God has the power, so has man. Power is indestructible, so is the man wielding it?
Over the years, philosophies tried to evolve and keep power holders and religion or religious influences separate from each other. But we are still in a world where religion continues to influence politics, and so do so many other divisive factors. Does the power of “Power” lie in keeping people divided?
If you ask me, the real power is in leadership that embraces planning, guiding, listening, braving it out for the weaker, and taking everyone along. How difficult that can be? It can be if power gets into your head and makes you a megalomaniac. I was reading the other day that the more inferior a person feels, the stronger the desire for unbridled control.
A friend mentioned that she has noticed people craving more control as they grow older. Do they believe that power is the privilege of age? Who knows what goes in the minds of people who can only think in terms of subjugation of others and privilege for the self. One can only debate the adage that money cannot make one happy is true. Even with all the money in the world, the desire for controlling the souls and lives of people seems to give the highest rush.
As a down-to-earth person, with limited ambitions, but a compassionate view of life, which I seek to nourish, I find the power-race in our world disturbing, confusing, and absolutely incomprehensible. I think the corridors of power can be crowded and noisy with fans, followers, advisors, sycophants, but the real challenge is in deciphering whether you are lonely at the pinnacle. Every person at the peak of power need not take the lonely high seat. It takes just a step down to be a part of the people and lead the soul of the community, be the power of the people. Maybe this is Utopia and for all that we know Utopia is also not perfect!
Blue Pen Strokes 